Interrogation
by Eyesinthenight102
Summary: Snow decides to have a few words with Mulan…about her relationship with a certain princess. (AU. Sleeping Warrior tumblr prompt)


**Interrogation (1/1)**

(AN: A one-shot fic based off a tumblr prompt. AU Enchanted Forest, in which Snow has promised to adopt Aurora, and take her home to Storybrooke where she can start a new life…this really ended up only as a brief scene, because apparently my brain refuses to focus this week. Also includes a reference to the song "_Things I'll Never Say_" by Avril Lavigne, as per request. )

**Summary:** Snow decides to have a few words with Mulan…about her relationship with a certain princess.

-x—

Snow embraced her new daughter with an open heart. She laughed jubilantly, her dimples and perfect teeth flashing in the noonday sun. Aurora giggled giddily, reveling in the warmth and closeness of her new kin.

_A mother…a real mother_. She marveled. A whole new world to explore. A whole new life.

It felt just too good to be true.

"I..I don't know what to say." The princess stammered through her tears.

"Say you will. Say you'll come back with us, and start a new life in Storybrooke. Say you'll be my daughter." Snow beamed, cupping Aurora's cheeks and wiping away her tears with the pads of her thumbs.

"I'd love to! Yes, yes of course! Oh, Snow…" the young princess threw herself into another tight hug, her words dissolving into joyous muffled sobs.

Emma shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. "Not that this isn't great, but we really need to go and find some food...we're almost out of rations." Her stomach yowled in protest. "And I'm hungry."

Snow chuckled over her shoulder at her eldest daughter. She shifted, breaking the hug, and smoothing out her magenta cardigan before adjusting the quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder.

"Emma's right. We need to find some food. Mulan and I can hunt for some small game while Emma and Aurora search for berries or nuts. Anything edible." Snow turned to Aurora, her lips pulling into a warm smile "We can finish talking about the details later…my daughter."

-x—

The huntress and the warrior stalked through the brush side by side. Arrows and sword at the ready, eyes peeled for any hint of movement in the underbrush. The bodies of two dead rabbits were already slung over their shoulders, proclaiming their success and hunting prowess.

After a long moment, Snow's pace slowed almost to a halt.

"I don't need to tell you that you're walking a very thin line, do I?" Snow's murmer was low, and though the corners of her mouth still held a friendly smile, the veiled seriousness that rumbled beneath her words was enough for Mulan to suddenly wish the others had not left in search of food. Her fingers twitched anxiously, pining for the safety of her swordhilt.

"I…don't know what you mean." The warrior said, drawing herself to a stop. Her face she kept impassive, but her tone hitched slightly as the words of denial fell from her mouth.

"Mulan." Snow gave her a meaningful glance; her verdant eyes keen and sure. "I've seen how you look at Aurora."

The warrior froze in terror. Her muscles stiffened and her blood chilled icily in her veins. She'd been beyond careful. How could Snow know already? She had taken such great pains to insure that the princess would never discover her feelings, yet her dark-haired leader seemed to have cut the matter to the bone.

Mulan considered, mind flicking desperately through all that she had done to try and stay away from Aurora.

Where had she slipped up? She recalled trying to distance herself from the princess and quash the fluttering of her errant heart. '_Aurora loves Phillip. It wouldn't be right to come between them_.' The stolid iron-clad sense of honor intoned. Sadly, her heart and the dark hunger in her blood paid her sense of duty no mind.

She'd tried to stay far away from the princess, walking apart from her during the travels, and trying to scoot her bedroll towards the opposite side of the campfire. She tried pulling away from Aurora's touch and tried to ignore the stutter of her heart when the princess called her name. Every moment was an eternity. Every day an agony. After only half a week, Mulan could stand it no longer.

Staying separate was simply not practical, especially if she planned to fulfill her promise to Phillip, and protect his beloved. Dark nightmares still plagued the princess, and Mulan refused to stand by and let Aurora suffer the remnants of Malificent's curse alone. To hear the princess cry out in the night, and sit idly by while Snow comforted in her place, tore at Mulan's soul.

She had soon decided to try a different approach. The warrior spent long nights keeping watch, meditating, and training, desperately trying to clear away the thoughts that wormed their way into her mind.

Once, a gentle breeze had shifted Aurora's hair while they walked together. Tresses fluttering away beneath the light wind's airy touch, revealing a bare shoulder and a slender creamy neck. The warrior had later spend a full cycle of the stars training herself brutally, slashing trees and underbrush savagely, as if by clearing the darkened forest floor, she could also purge her mind of her wanting desires. Dawn's pale fingers had found her nearly passed out amongst the carnage of slain trunks and foliage.

No matter how hard she tried, or how exhausted her body was, her mind always strayed to the same thoughts. Though she knew, deep inside, that she could never act on the stuttering palpitations and yearnings of her innermost heart. She had made a promise to her prince.

A small muscle beneath her eye twitched. _Was it really so obvious? Were her feelings so incredibly easy to read?_

Her father's favorite proverb flickered across her remembrance: "There is no putting a dragon back in its cage once it has been released".

"I…see your meaning. But it doesn't matter. She belongs with Phillip." Mulan parroted dutifully.

She could feel her heart breaking as the taint of the words seemed to seep into the very fiber of her soul. _She's not yours. She never was_. Whispered the doubt in her mind. A lump seemed to close the warrior's throat, and she clenched her jaw, staring down at the dirt beneath her boots. She could feel something twinging just at the corners of her eyes, and she swallowed, steeling her resolve.

_Warriors don't cry_. She reminded herself, her fists clenching hard, fingernails biting into the tough leather of her gauntlets.

Snow was quiet a long moment. She watched the warrior battle with herself inside, and it was like watching a thunderstorm rage in utter silence. The tension in her body seemed to make the air tremble with controlled fury, each muscle taught and hard but restrained with a terrifying force of will. Anguish roiled in the depths of her dark eyes, its breadth surprising even the battle-hardened leader. The profundity of the other woman's pain—a suffering so deep yet kept locked away in utter solitude-nearly sundered Snow's heart atwain.

The fairest outstretched a hand, placing it gently on Mulan's shoulder. "You know… Aurora can make her own decisions…she's not married Phillip. Not yet. You should tell her how you feel. She may surprise you."

Eyes as dark as the night sky flicked up, peering up through long dark lashes. Hope sparked in their shadowed depths, flickering and tempered by uncertainty.

Mulan's mouth opened and closed several times. Her brain searching for words. "I…I want… I want so much to be perfect. For her. She's fought so hard; already given up so much. I want to be able to give her everything she ever dreamed. She deserves that. She's worth that…to me."

Snow nodded, understanding. "I know." She gently brushed the warrior's arm. Surprisingly, Mulan didn't flinch away from the caress.

"Storybrooke can be a new start…for the both of you." The Fairest murmured.

The warrior's onyx eyes widened in astonishment.

"You…you really would want me to go with you? To this new land?" she breathed. Terrified that if she spoke her desires any louder than a whisper that they would shatter; evaporating like mist beneath the mid-morning sun.

"I'm sure Aurora would be honored to have someone as loyal as you by her side. The world Emma and I come from is very different from this one. There are many wonders, but also many new things for Aurora to learn. Ours is a land without magic and without royalty. Your princess will still need your protection and help to adjust to life in Storybrooke." Snow spoke, measuring her words carefully.

"She will still need you."

Mulan nodded, trying desperately to keep her heart from fluttering. "Then I will go with her. For as long as she needs me, I will be by her side."

Snow patted the warrior on the shoulder, her lips pulling into a genuine smile. "Good. I'm sure Aurora will be immensely happy to have you with her…"

Her face soon shifted, darkening into menace. "But if you hurt my youngest daughter in any way…if you break her heart, you'll have me to deal with. Are we clear?" The women stood for a long moment, measuring each other up in tense silence. Forest green eyes, hard as jade, were unmoving. Narrowed and lethal. Mulan saw, in those hard emerald eyes, that her commander made no idle threat.

"Understood." The warrior acknowledged.

Snow nodded, turning on a heel and striding out through the woodlands, bow in hand. Mind and body focused back on duties; eyes scouring the forest floor for signs of prey. She bent her back to her work and uttered not another word on the matter.

The warrior shuddered and exhaled a pent up breath. "Dear spirits, protect me." She muttered, passing a gloved hand over her face before following in the footsteps of her dearest friend and leader.


End file.
